Still no ethics reform; political trial continues

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state Legislature is scheduled to end the year without taking up a long-awaited ethics reform bill, even as a federal corruption trial of a prominent ex-lawmaker carries on down the block from the Capitol. cm-bd

For four weeks, lawmakers met, often with little to do, as leaders sought a deficit reduction deal, but didn't take up the ethics measure.

"It was a colossal failure, and it feeds the already overwhelming cynicism that the public feels about Albany," said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The Assembly passed the ethics reform bill. Gov. David Paterson didn't put it on the agenda for the Senate to take up during the extraordinary session he called, however, the Senate could have convened a regular session to take up the bill.

"The Senate has heard and recognizes the public outcry for a significant improvement of ethics in Albany, and it is ready to take action," said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate majority. He said the issue is a top priority he and his colleagues still are working on.

Meanwhile, three blocks away, the federal trial of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has gone to jurors. They will decide whether he used his power to line his pockets and deprive New Yorkers of honest government.

It's just one of many scandals involving Albany politicians. Among others in recent years:

Sen. Hiram Monserrate was found guilty of third-degree reckless assault;

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned after his involvement in a prostitution scandal became public.

A monthlong Senate coup earlier this year froze state government while Democrats and Republicans engaged in a historic power struggle that sank the public's already low opinion of politicians in Albany.

A Siena College poll released in August found 54 percent of New York voters thought state politicians had less integrity than the politicians of 40 to 50 years ago.

"The failure to approve ethics reform was very frustrating," Horner said. "In September, the Senate was one vote short of approving a package. In the last three months, supposedly there were discussions between the houses. I was told repeatedly that 'progress' was being made. Apparently, the progress was in moving the daily calendar along, since nothing happened."

The proposal nearly passed by the Senate would return ethics oversight to a separate board to investigate government officials and another to regulate lobbying.

In addition, a Senate Democratic amendment would have created a stronger entity to investigate allegations of election and campaign law violations. The bill would have abolished the Public Integrity Commission, created in 2007 under Gov. Eliot Spitzer. It investigates alleged ethics violations in the executive branch and regulates lobbying while the Legislature's ethics commission investigates lawmakers.

The measure will die at the end of the year.

Democrats say they're working in both houses on a new bill with even stronger teeth than the previous proposal.

Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat, said negotiations are focusing on an idea that would include many of the same provisions in the version passed by the Assembly, as well as new, tougher reforms.

Those would include anti-nepotism provisions and higher penalties for campaign finance violations. They also would include a requirement that lawmakers be more transparent in their disclosures about the money they make outside of the Legislature -- including those who work as consultants as Bruno did.

"I would rather have us move faster than we're moving to reform the ethics law, but the fact that we're in serious negotiations with the Assembly is a big step forward," Schneiderman said. "The job of the good government groups is to urge us onward, and I respect that."

He said the Senate and Assembly still are negotiating an ethics bill, and they don't have a timeline for passing the reforms.

"It's good of them to be thinking about improving on the Assembly bill," Horner said. "But they didn't pass anything. In Albany, good ideas are a dime a dozen, but getting bills passed -- that's hard."